For the past seven years, the DLSU Technology Summit has been the flagship event of the La Salle Computer Society, bringing the current and upcoming technologies to the fingertips of the Lasallian community. Held last May 27 to June 1, several booths were set up in its one week run, with comprehensive talks and workshops featured on its culminating day.
From the bigger picture
On June 1, the event opened with a plenary session, which focused on topics such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), as well as the atmosphere of e-sports in the Philippines.
Emphasizing on his claim that ML is the “most successful implementation of AI”, Leon Carlo Valencia, a graduate of the University of the Philippines Diliman, noted that ML is still “very difficult to understand [as to] how and why it works.” He furthered, “[ML] is a very old technology, but was never gotten to work as the [then] hardware [available] is not good enough to handle the amount of data and the algorithm needed for ML programs to [be] run.”
On the other hand, Pillar Digital E-Commerce Director of Operations Mark Navarro concentrated on the overall landscape and situation of Philippine and Asian e-sports. Navarro cited that despite the e-sports scene not being regulated in 2017, it has now flourished, “[There was an] evolution of e-sports in terms of content creation, [providing] cash prizes during tournaments, [feeding] the media with interesting storylines, as well as events held.” Navarro, as he revealed, was part of the pioneering team that launched Mineski.
Companies such as JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Accenture participated in the event, giving talks regarding robotics and augmented reality, respectively. Breakout sessions also focused on vlogging, technology in online businesses, and even fashion design. Accompanying workshops were also administered after the breakout sessions.
Technology for all
For this year, the DLSU Technology Summit had an overall theme: Branching Out to Different Fields, as Rebecalyn Lao (II, BS-CS), one of the four project heads of the event, put it. She mentioned that coming up with such theme came from their observation that the term “technology” is made even more encompassing nowadays.
“[It isn’t] limited to computer science or information systems, [as it is also utilized] in the business and medical fields,” Lao justified.
The project head also highlighted that the aim of the summit is “to showcase new technologies…and innovations for students to interact with and know about.”
In their effort to make the event more inclusive, summit was opened to members of the Lasallian community and to other schools and universities such as Paco Catholic High School and the Philippine Polytechnic University.
